Evaluating The Worth Of A Mechanic
Unless you’ve got no interest in MMORPGs (which begs the question why you’re reading this blog) or have been living in some sort of lesser developed country during wartime, you’ll probably have heard about the changes coming to World of Warcraft with the Cataclysm expansion later on in the year. I’ve been following the drips of information we’ve been getting with great interest, not because I particularly care about my favourite class getting some exciting new ability but rather because I find it fascinating to see how the Blizzard developers are evaluating the worth of mechanics and abilities.
For instance, Cataclysm is going to see changes to the stat system, the spell ranking system, spells and abilities and numerous classes. For me, one of the most curious changes though is the removal of weapon skill levels. From Cataclysm onwards, you will no longer need to level up proficiency with a particular weapon type after you’ve learnt it, a huge departure from the traditions of MMORPGs.
I can understand why this change is happening as skilling up weapons is a chore and redundant once the player hits the max level. Blizzard’s stance seems to be that things that become mindless, mandatory tasks are unnecessary and that everything should be more interactive or based on situational decisions. Weapon skill levels certainly don’t fit into those boxes and are something which is usually neglected by the player, only to be remembered when they realise they want to use an axe and haven’t trained up the skill up for it for the past 10 levels.
Still, I’m sad to see the mechanic go because there was a reason for it existing which has now become lost. The idea behind skills in RPGs is to mimic the process us humans go through when acquiring a new talent: learning. Unless you’re Lex Luthor most people take time to learn new skills and do so through constant and consistent use and repetition. Boil it down to it’s basics and we often pick up new abilities in real life by doing something over and over until it becomes part of our long term or muscle memory. Obviously this definition of learning is a huge understatement about the cognitive process that we go through and my layman interpretation doesn’t even begin to stratch the surface of it but I’m sure you’re getting my gist.
The fact is, this type skill acquisition in RPGs and MMORPGs is there as a way of representing and mimicking the real life process of learning and, as a result, it makes our characters more human. By anthropomorphizing our binary avatars we can feel a deeper connection to them and become more immersed in the game.
Here’s a great nostalgic example of what I mean. Did you ever play Everquest? Remember the language system in the game? I don’t know about you but I loved the concept of having unique racial languages and being able to speak Elvish if I was, well, an Elf (don’t worry, it’s just an example, I never played an Elf). I also remember being impressed meeting high level characters who could speak anicent languages like Dragon, plus we got to create that iconic scene from the 13th Warrior by learning an entire new language during a single night around a campfire.
Evaluating the worth of a mechanic sure is tricky and I admire how Blizzard, and every games designer/developer, approaches it. Does a mechanic have any real worth or is just a redundant facility with no use? Is something merely an overhang from MMORPG tradition or is it providing a valuable sense of immersion? These are tough choices and can have quite large impact on the gameplay experience.